Is This One of Those Pyramid Things?

One of the first questions I inevitably get when presenting Fortune is "Is this a pyramid scheme? Aren't those illegal?" So let me state once and for all - NETWORK MARKETING IS NOT A PYRAMID SCHEME. Pyramids do exist and sometimes it's hard to tell a legitimate business from a scam. What makes them different?

1. A legitimate network marketing business will have a genuine product or service. This product or service will have value of its own and be priced accordingly. In a pyramid, there is usually no real product or service. If it does, they are often priced well above fair market value. Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing products and services include: cell phones and cell phone service from AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Nextel and others; DishTV, Peter Lamas Cosmetics, Travelocity, GTE Home Security systems, True Essentials nutritional products, Life Essentials weight loss products, Fabs Cyberfitness, and many more.

2. A legitimate network marketing business will disclose any information about the company to anyone interested in knowing more. Pyramids offer little to no information offered about the company unless an investor purchases the products and becomes a participant. Fortune H-Tech Marketing has been featured on several news programs and magazines. Anyone is free to visit the website and learn all they want about the company before joining.

3. Network marketing businesses encourage the sale of the products or services offered by the company. Commission is paid on these sales to reps involved in the business. Pyramids promote an income stream that chiefly depends on the commissions earned by enrolling new members or the purchase by members of products for their own use rather than sales to customers who are not participants in the scheme. In FHTM, there are several ways to earn money. We do receive bonuses for enrolling new members and we do receive commissions for the products and services we use ourselves (I get commission from my Verizon cell phone!). We also are encouraged to encourage others to become customers by purchasing our products and services. We receive commission from those as well. I currently have over 300 customers.

4. In a network marketing company, the money to pay commissions comes from the sale of products or services. In a pyramid, the money to pay commissions comes primarily from the participants. There is a $299 fee to join FHTM. There is a cost to become involved in any legitimate business. This cost does not even begin to cover the commissions and bonuses I receive from my downline and customers. Our profit comes from the sales of our products and services. FHTM is AT&T's best customer. Last year, we sold more cell phones than the AT&T stores. We aren't #1 with DishTV. We had to settle for being #2. And because of this, each of these companies, along with all the others we represent, happily pay us commission instead of paying for advertising elsewhere. That's where our money comes from.

5. In a network marketing company, you can earn a decent living. In a pyramid, 90% of the participants never recoup their initial investment. Dearl and I paid $299 for our entry into the business. I pay for my cell phone (which I would pay anyway), a website, some vitamins and other nutritional products (which I would only buy somewhere else if I didn't buy them here), some cosmetics (ditto for the cosmetics), a virtual office which provides me with an 800 number (which I was going to get anyway) and a Travelocity website. Now I probably wouldn't have purchased a Travelocity site except for this business. But I travel a lot and so do my friends and family. So booking this travel through my own Travelocity site and then receiving a commission for it sure made sense to me. We made our $299 back within our first 2 weeks. We have made much more than that since then. I can't guarantee you won't lose your money in Fortune. If you sign up and then don't enroll anyone in your downline or don't get some customers, you surely will. But if you invest in a McDonalds franchise and then don't promote your business, you'll lose money there too.In a pyramid scheme, those at the bottom can never advance higher or make more than those at the top. In network marketing, this is not the case. I am a Regional Sales Manager with FHTM. Since joining the company I recruited several team members who have now promoted to the level above me - Executive Sales Manager - and make far more than I do.

Pyramid schemes do exist. They get more sophisticated and harder to spot all the time. And everyone wants to be sure they're not getting caught up in some sort of scam. But there are many good, solid, legitimate network marketing companies also. If you are looking for a way to make some extra income, or even one day replace your job with a business of your own, I highly recommend you consider one. Of course, I think Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing is the best one to work with. But there are many others. If you aren't sure if it's a legitimate business, review the checklist above. If anything about the "opportunity" makes you uncomfortable, look elsewhere. And if the person you are speaking with about the business pressures you to get involved, RUN! That is a definite warning that they are more interested in recruiting other people into the business than in selling products. I will ask you to look at my business. I may even get a little pushy because I care about you and want you to have the same opportunity I did. But if you look at the compensation plan, the business overview and the products, and still tell me you are not interested - I will NEVER, EVER push you to be on my team!